[Album] Kingdom Hearts II OST (TOCT-25871~2)

I feel that the Kingdom Hearts II OST is superior to the first OST!
Especially now that I'm playing KHII and hearing the music in-game....I feel that Shimomura has done a fantastic job on it!
I especially get pumped up by the fantastic new battle themes that accompany mostly all of the battles (I usually crank up the volume of my stereo when a boss battle starts ).
The boss themes are a bit short though....which is a bit of a pity, but if they're this good then I really don't mind.

Once again I have to say that I don't hear much of the weakness in the synth quality of the songs!
I really think that's just a load of horsecrap!
(which does not count for all tracks though....there are 1 or 2 tracks, that do indeed sound a bit weak, like the Port Royal fight theme and Destati sounds much less epic then on the first album).
The epicness of the sound quality is once again especially evident in the battle themes.
A few examples: the echoing horns (that start at 0:11) in The 13th Struggle sound fantastic....especially when you have your stereo on real loud (or headphones)!
Also how Shimomura uses the piano in her battle themes is absolutely sublime too, a good example of this is in the song Desire For All That Is Lost when the piano solo starts at 0:47!!
(the same goes for songs like Vim and Vigor, Tension Rising (especially the part that begins at 0:45 sounds great), Dance To The Death, Rowdy Rumble etc).
I have to agree with orion though, that the end battle songs are indeed less interesting then the ones you hear in the rest of the game.

All in all a very accomplished soundtrack, which probably brings back too many of the original tunes....but the new compositions make me very forgiving of this fact!

Jam it back in, in the dark.